Pro-Israel what-the-fuck-ever

I tire of it.  The pro-Israel bias in America has so blinded normally sensible people that it amazes they would even attempt to discuss the issue from behind a façade of intelligence.

Oh wait!  They can’t discuss it intelligently.  Everything is about how Israel is justified or the Arabs are wrong.  Uh-huh…

Blind is blind and bigotry is bigotry.  All I hear and see is that we should let Israel visit the dogs of war upon anyone they deem a target even if such action strengthens the enemy’s hand — as it has done in this case.  Let Israel lash out despite such action causing significantly more civilian deaths and hardship than impact on terrorists.

Let’s see: almost 800 killed in Lebanon; only a few dozen are Hezb’Allah.  Let’s be generous and say that 40 of those were Hezb’Allah.  That’s still 95% innocent civilians killed in directed military action.  Is that just?  Is that humane?

There you stand with your boo-hoo and whimper and whine that Israel must always be right or else.  Whatever.

No, that fails to communicate my point.

What-the-fuck-ever!

Why did America not attack Saudi Arabia or Egypt after 9/11?  Common sense and objectivity are two major reasons.  There is more to the story than the line of bullshit so many have been fed from day one as Americans: Israel is always right, and we must support her no matter what since we as Christians need a Jewish state before the Rapture can take place.  Go ahead, tell me I’m wrong.  That’s THE ONLY REASON America has always blindly supported Israel, and that’s THE ONLY REASON so many clueless idiots still do.  That’s why America now stands completely alone in such support.

I am not against Israel.  I am not against a state defending itself.  I am for reason, for considering all of the facts and points of view, for erring on the side of caution, and for demonstrating restraint in matters which endanger innocents.  There is a right way to defeat terrorism and there is a wrong way to defeat terrorism.  This is the wrong way.  Period.

Yet here we are.  Americans stomp their little feet and cry their little eyes out for the horrors Israel must endure, yet Israel visited those same horrors on the Palestinians and British in order to become a nation.  Now, they’ve visited the same horrors on the Lebanese people who weren’t even involved in the fight.  What’s the fucking difference!?

The ends do not justify the means.  Cliché though it may be, it’s true.  I won’t deny the ends can justify the means, but exceptions are tempered with compassion and good judgment.  Israel has practiced neither in this mêlée.

I’ve had it with the bigotry in this country.  I’ve had it with the anti-Arab mentality that permeates every corner of this nation.  I’ve had it with the hate enacted in the name of Jesus Fucking Christ.  You know what?  Fuck Jesus and fuck all this pro-Israel bullshit from idiots and assholes who haven’t a clue.

Hate-filled, empty-headed, war-mongering lowlifes are evil whether they be called pro-Hezb’Allah or pro-Israel.  It’s all the same: animosity and stupidity.  The fact that people can’t see it proves my point.

And let me finish with this Jewish opinion that really summarizes the evil perpetrated by those who support the country regardless of what they do [via Sadly, No!]:

The Yesha Rabbinical Council announced in response to an IDF attack in Kfar Qanna that “according to Jewish law, during a time of battle and war, there is no such term as ‘innocents’…”

“All of the discussions on Christian morality are weakening the spirit of the army and the nation and are costing us in the blood of our soldiers and civilians,” the statement said.

What about the Lebanese civilians?  Oh, sorry.  You already said they’re as noteworthy as dirt.

For all you Christians out there, read the Old Testament to see how it tells you to kill the women and children of your enemies, to murder all men who oppose you (in order to conduct a genocidal interception of their lineage), and to rape and pillage those you deem not of your god.  It’s in there, I assure you, and that’s the mentality running rampant in the Middle East right now.  Don’t you fucking dare say the Arabs are bad for doing as much when this is what you’re supporting.

Sure, now tell me how you support Israel 100%…

Open thread

Get your meow on over at Carnival of the Cats #123.

Let the Gay Times Roll!  No, it’s not what you think.  It’s a heartfelt and passionate tidbit from someone who works in an animal shelter.  This is worth five minutes of your time.

Same-Sex Marriage Wins by Losing: Dan Savage’s editorial in the NYT.  It’s an excellent piece.  Go read it now.

Birds in the News 65 (v2n16) is back from hiatus.  Fly on over for some great photographs (that first one is spellbinding) and a lot of interesting avian news.

This is a great summary of common misconceptions about the Big Bang.  Too many creationists harp on that aspect of our universe as though doing so supported their point of view.  This post does a great deal of damage to that mentality by responding to such claims as well as general ignorance of the topic (ignorance meant not as an insult but as an indication of a lack of expertise).  This is really good stuff.  [via PZ, who aptly named it “The Big Bang for Dummies”]

That’s just cheating – but no surprise there

Have I mentioned the minimum wage atrocity yet?  Oh, I think I have: here, here, here, and even a cursory mention here.  The overriding issue is that the minimum wage has been set at $5.15 per hour for the last ten years.  Despite our legislature declining to change it in all that time, they have for the last seven years voted themselves a pay increase.  Double standard?  You bet!  But now it gets even better.

The House is presently trying to weasel their way through yet another tax cut that will only benefit the top 8,200 rich people in the country (at the cost of $1.4 million each).  That is a tax cut that will add to our ballooning deficit, a debt so historically large and untenable that it seems only appropriate to refer to our representatives as the credit card Congress.  Americans will be repaying that debt for a very long time — generations, in fact, if the uncontrolled spending continues as it has under this fiscally conservative Republican leadership.

What is the relevance of yet another tax break for the disgustingly rich when we are talking about the minimum wage horror?  It would seem the conservative leadership is using it as a ploy by linking a minimum wage increase to this offensive tax cut.  It places representatives in the terrible situation of having to either endorse this pandering to those who actually should be paying more taxes but are being offered yet another selective cut in their federal obligations, or to support an increase in the minimum wage.  Republican leadership undoubtedly saw this as a win-win situation for them.  Either they get the tax cut or they can accuse Democrats of voting against a minimum wage increase.

Critics say the House deal, linking an increase in the minimum wage with a sharp reduction of the estate tax, is aimed at two groups at opposite ends of the economic spectrum. The minimum wage hike will help some 6.6 million beneficiaries with an average dollar benefit of $1,200. The estate tax cut will benefit some 8,200 people with an average dollar benefit of $1.4 million, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) in Washington.

Let’s do the math, shall we?

They want to offer $7.9 billion in additional wages to the bottom of the pay barrel (that’s 6.6 million people at $1,200 each).  That money comes from the businesses that employ citizens at the minimum wage.

The cost of this philanthropic gesture is a decrease in tax revenues to the tune of $11.5 billion (that’s 8,200 people at $1.4 million each).  That is money the rich certainly can afford, yet our fearless leadership believes those people should be able to keep that money instead of carrying their share of our unrestrained spending.  Guess who will be paying for that?  The working class, of course!

But millions of middle income individuals “will almost certainly lose from the House bill, when the measures ultimately needed to pay for the bill’s sharp cuts in the estate tax are taken into account,” reported CBPP’s Joel Friedman and Aviva Aron-Dine this weekend.

America’s economy is being abused to the extent that it will plunge our citizens into financial servitude for generations to come.  It places our nation on the precarious edge of recession, if not an outright depression.  For those of us not in government who have to live in the real world and can’t assume via our own machinations that we will receive a yearly pay increase, this is yet another way to ensure taxes must be increased and our government must continue to borrow in order to function.  At what point did the Republican party become so fiscally irresponsible?  Isn’t that against their membership rules or something?

This particular display of wealthy arrogance, of course, is intended to ensure those voting against the tax break are also forced to vote against the minimum wage hike.  Those voting for the minimum wage hike will likewise be seen as fiscally ignorant insomuch as they are also voting for a multibillion-dollar tax break that will benefit only 0.002 percent of the population.

As ABC News is so fond of saying, “It’s your money.”

My new chocolate cell phone

Friday was an interesting day.  Not in a bad way, mind you, but in a WTF! kind of way.  I was drinking a glass of chocolate milk that morning as I sat and read the news.  My cell phone rang.  I picked it up, opened it to see who was calling, and promptly dropped it into the glass of chocolate milk.  It was completely submerged.  I assumed the situation might be problematic.

That was the end of my dear little phone.  Yes, I tried desperately to resuscitate it, stayed with it all day long just in case it came out of its coma, and even poked at it a bit Saturday to see if there was any life left in it.  I’m sad to report it was indeed dead, having suffocated in cacao-tainted bovine mammary secretions.  My heart was broken.  I really liked that phone.  And who knew milk could be so toxic?

I replaced it later in the weekend with the same model, and thankfully most of my contacts and other information were on an old SIM card (I’d recently upgraded the SIM card for expanded international service and still had the old one; what a break, eh?).

I can’t be certain there’s a moral to this story, or even a point.  Beware the cell-sucking chocolate milk?  I have a drinking problem?  I should be charged with drinking while occupied?  This is why we can’t have nice things?  Something else entirely?

You be the judge.

Being pissed off at my broker

I’m not sharing the name of my broker as yet, but I will share this e-mail I sent to them.  The in-line edits are where I redacted the name.

I am preparing to change my [brokerage] e-mail address FOR THE THIRD TIME. Each e-mail address I provide to [your company] becomes overrun with stock-related spam (among other kinds, but that represents the majority). Since the e-mail address is only used for and shared with [your company], there is no question where the spammers are getting my addresses. Since the spam in question violates the federal CAN-SPAM laws, [you are] either criminally negligent in allowing my address to be compromised, or [are] aiding and abetting those engaging in federal crimes, or [are] intentionally hiring stock-related spammers in the hopes of drumming up additional business.

In any case, [your company] is criminally responsible for this violation of the law and invasion of my privacy. The act also constitutes a willful and knowing violation of [your] own privacy policy.

As this is the third time I have been forced to change my e-mail address because of the same problem, and this problem ONLY occurs with the e-mail address I provide to [you], there is ample documented proof to indicate [you are] party to illegal acts. The same evidence also clearly shows a wanton and continuing violation of the privacy policy [you claim] to uphold.

This is the only warning I am giving. Once I change my e-mail address — FOR THE THIRD TIME — any future spam received at that address will be used against you in a court of law at both the federal and state levels. Remember, my e-mail addresses are generated for specific purposes, so those addresses I’ve provided [you] have ONLY been provided to [you]. That means [your company] is SOLELY and WHOLLY responsible for their compromise and violation.

I expect immediate and decisive action on this issue. I expect the immediate cessation of this illegal act. I expect confirmation that this will not happen again.

Let’s see how they respond.  And the answer is yes, I’m in a somewhat pissy mood today and I don’t know why.